After a bit of travelling around with the wagon trains, he showed up in Taos and took a job with a group of mountain men needing a helper. This led him into becoming a full-fledged fur trapper and for a dozen years he roamed all over the West, living by his traps, his rifle and his wits. In his later years he referred to this as the happiest time of his life.During this period he married Grass Singing, an Arapaho girl. They lived blissfully in a teepee and had a daughter, Adaline, and a son, Robert. During the spring hunt of 1841, young Robert fell into a kettle of boiling soap and died. Not long after, his mother, Grass Singing, contracted a fever and died, too.
After a bit of travelling around with the wagon trains, he showed up in Taos and took a job with a group of mountain men needing a helper. This led him into becoming a full-fledged fur trapper and for a dozen years he roamed all over the West, living by his traps, his rifle and his wits. In his later years he referred to this as the happiest time of his life.During this period he married Grass Singing, an Arapaho girl. They lived blissfully in a teepee and had a daughter, Adaline, and a son, Robert. During the spring hunt of 1841, young Robert fell into a kettle of boiling soap and died. Not long after, his mother, Grass Singing, contracted a fever and died, too.